1. Hudson Mohawke - Polyfolk Dance (Sampler) (Warp)
Available exclusively on Bleep.com for the next 5 weeks, this 2-track taster of electronic blips and chopped vocals displays an alarming forecast into the talents that this young Glaswegian producer holds. Already having attracted careful observation from media who still struggle to label the movement (Aqua Crunk?/ Wonky?); combine this with his recent signing to Warp, 2009 looks like it's going to be the year of the Mohawke.




2. Lone - Lemurian (Dealmaker)
Nottingham's Matt Cutler dropped this ear tickling debut with a coolness that few matched in '08. Brimming with heavily compressed beats that fidget and ache and groove against a miasma of aqua-sonics and soul-drenched samples; if this has been the year of the wonk then Lemurian stands proud as one of its more intriguing documents. At once disconcerting and beatific, Lemurian's shoegazing loveliness is THE unique take on the sound of tomorrow.




3. Eero Johannes - Eero Johannes (Planet Mu)
Playful space-disco meets toy-town dubstep may sound horrific but Planet Mu's latest signing delivered us a caffeine frenzy magnum opus, high on invention. Across fourteen analogue coated cuts, cosmic highlife and genre tennis a-plenty ..Johannes has more melodies per minute than ten-long players cooped up in a busy pop-factory.




4. Tape - Luminarium (Hapna)
Sublime bedroom minimalism from the Swedish band, fluttering and floating into the ears like nothing else this year. Once the opening crackle and shimmering guitar trails of opening track 'Beams' is torched, Luminarium glows through sixty minutes of lush arrangements, ghostly field recordings and a cornucopia of treated acoustic instruments. Beautiful.




5. The Bug - Poison Dart (Ninja Tune)
2008's most explosive record, veteran producer Kevin Martin has comfortably crafted his finest work to date. A phuture masterpiece, London Zoo frazzles and sparks with apocalyptic rage, post-millennial tension and subsonic monster beats. No other release this year has brought together stomping lyrical resonance(in the shape of some prime M.C talent) politico-dancehall grooves and bashment boogie with such skill. In years to come London Zoo WILL become a seminal record, for the meantime just buy it on bleep.




6. Rustie - Zig Zag (Wireblock)
If you are like us, then you probably remember the first time you heard this song. Definitely not a background-music tune, Zig-Zag drags the choke-held listener through an electronic soundtrack to Apocalypse, only intensified by chord changes every time you feel you might get a chance to breathe. The Terminator soundtrack on crack.




7. Flying Lotus - L.A. EP 2 X 3 (Warp)
Following on from one of the best albums of 2008, this EP is a hand-picked selection of Flying Lotus' favourite producers to re-work tracks off the seminal Los Angeles LP. It is a selection of the freshest producers around today re-piecing together the soundbytes of FlyLo's well-inked musical stamp for 2008. Essential.




8. Toob - Push Me, Pull You (Process)
One half of Red Snapper, Richard Thair teamed up with Jake Williams for this, their glorious second album under the Toob moniker. Oscillating wildly through the genres Push Me, Pull You is a must for fans of cosmic-krautrock rhythms, crunchy breaks, 80s new-wave and keyboard hooks from every corner. Underpinning the technicolor are wonderfully deadpan vocals and subversively skewed pop-melodies. The left-field pop album of the year.




9. Loco Dice - 7 Dunham Place (Desolat)
Lush minimal techno from downtown Brooklyn that squarely confronts the genre with a freshness of approach that zings and pings its way into your consciousness. Hooky piano stabs, densely textured programming and cut-up musique-concrete mean ... Dunham Place's Nuyorican flavour attacks both the dancefloor and the heads in equal measure.




10. Ratatat - LP3 (XL Recordings)
Unimaginatively titled, but a box of kooky treasures, as you might have come to expect from Ratatat. Crying out for some ad syncs, it is both thoughtful and calm but with some more developed sounds than before, particularly the Spanish influences that come out on Gipsy Threat and Mi Viejo.